. Charles Dickens certainly had a huge number of memorable young people in his novels, in addition to the “Dombey and Son” book I mentioned. I loved this book. On an essay reflecting on young literary protagonists inspired by the start of a new school year we have yet to have a mention as far as I can tell of young Holden Caulfield ? But sorry you didn’t see the Durrell family house. I also found “Life of Pi” compelling, pendragn52. Of course, Durrell’s book is nonfiction, but still…. The other young person that popped into my mind is Woody from “Lady” by Thomas Tryon. Perhaps you can go to the library to check out your own copy of “The Client”? bebe, I read both the books you mentioned (after you recommended Vonnegut’s “Basic Training” and Grisham in general), and they feature EXCELLENT examples of young protagonists. Eric, the same for your former student’s “ham in his sandwich” comment. Given the consistently high quality of his output, I find that fact a bit amazing. Many times these young characters must take on adult characteristics,are older than their years,they do what they must do to survive. Among the many other young females who strongly resonate in literature are the four diverse sisters in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women; the bright, frustrated Maggie Tulliver, who’s initially nine years old in George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss; the mistreated, resilient Celie when a teen in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple; the neglected, loyal Florence in Charles Dickens’ Dombey and Son; the iconic Dorothy in L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; and the offbeat, perceptive Pearl — daughter of Hester Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Did You Know? I did ask him about how he writes a review. Book sounded like an autobiography with lots of wrestling matches incorporated but obviously not.Somewhere I have read his own son is a homosexual man. And all that anti-Semitism bound up in the figure of Fagin– that too disturbs, and after a while disturbed even Dickens, who in later editions, removed dozens of references to him as ‘the Jew.’. ), I know I know your all time favorite book is Jane Eyre and mine is To Kill a Mockingbird , bebe, I think I’m going to see if my local library has Harper Lee’s novel when I go there next week. Brainy, friendly, funny, needy — Anne has captivated readers since L.M. If Tom Sawyer grew up to be as obnoxious as an adult as he was as a child he would definitely meet with some resistance and would be one of those full-of-himself cocky characters I’d try to avoid. And it’s even worse when one lives in an expensive part of the country, as we do. If you are served braised carrots in the evening, expect carrot tops in your soup at lunch. That’s a beautiful, profound Blake poem, bebe. 7 Child Protagonists That Adults Can Relate To. My favorite children in fiction are Scout and Jem from “To Kill A Mockingbird”, but I’m sure you could have guess that. He founded the Jersey Wildlife Refuge on the island of Jersey and wrote many funny books on the subject, such as “The Overloaded Ark” and “A Zoo in my Luggage.” He wrote books only to make money for his zoo and foundation. No worries though. I’m sure she was excellent as Doctor Zhivago’s wife (but not his true love). Here is a column which testifies to the giving nature of its owner, a man I feel certain could have hogged the category with his thoughts on Jane Eyre alone. I would imagine folks who read and loved “The Five People You Meet In Heaven” found much in”The Life of Pi” to chew on. By this latterly stage in life, I have performed this delicate dance above economic death on several rivers over several years. As I told jhNY elsewhere in this comments section, I had to resist including the young Jane in this kids/teens-in-lit post because I mention Charlotte Bronte’s book so often. The amount of vitality wasted on the propping up of the corpse of a failed economic system, if placed end to end, will never justify the means. I’ve never read his work. As a matter of fact, he got so busy with his book, newspaper, and broadcast work that he once submitted a Sunday column on Friday about something that was supposed to happen at a Saturday game, but didn’t happen. Many big bankers are indeed masterful at fiction. I think I made it up, until someone tells me different. Such a good point about “Oliver Twist,” Donny! basis to obtain updated from latest information. Some are indeed extraordinary (like Owen Meany, Dr. Wilbur Larch of “The Cider House Rules,” etc.) These then, are some of my own favourite portrayals of children in literature. Dave – I am finally reading this book that you recommended about a year ago. . . Eliot, J.R.R. My greatest find to date was a Cuban pamphlet from 1810, which I bought for a few dollars on the street. Not sure if you’ve read Geraldine Brooks’ “March,” which focuses on the “Little Women” father’s experiences in the Civil War — while including “Marmee” and the four daughters as secondary characters. As you allude to, Jo March was the best part of the book. Perhaps Simon was also responding to some people’s misguided beliefs that Jewish singers/songwriters/musicians are not considered ideal singer/songwriter/musician material — though of course Bob Dylan didn’t seem to be hurt by that. Read a bit about him via wikipedia– turns out Henry Miller was an early influence and a friend for decades, and that, on the basis of the AQ, Lawrence Durrell (I knew I’d spelled his first name wrong as soon as I saw it appear in the column) was a finalist for the Nobel Prize in the early 50’s (as was Karen Blixen)– but Steinbeck won that year. Something about Holden Caulfield scared me! And McCarthy’s “Suttree” features a rather odd teen (I think that was his age) in a supporting role. So, I have no problem toggling from a series like Nancy Drew or the “Oz” books, to Dostoyevsky, to Stephen King, to George Eliot, to a baseball novel, to Jane Austen, to “Harry Potter,” to Wole Soyinko, etc. I agree about that unfinished second novella, though it had a laugh here and there. This is a list of legendary young girls and boys in children’s novels, stories, fairy tales, etc. Yes, “a silly game.”, A “Thrive” spotting! As I read “Jane Eyre” only lately, and as I have left Dickens alone since my last dose (“Hard Times”) in college, I shall leave such discussion as these categories inspire to capable others, except to quote Oscar Wilde: “One must have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without laughing.”, Ha, ha — you know my writing, jhNY! What does protagonist mean? What an evil child labor was then and now. Superb description of it, bebe! For some reason, his Prince never sang “Little Red Corvette.”. Perhaps I’d like him better under that hat…. Re Pi: I spent a half hour with the book, and felt I might better spend the time it would have taken to read the whole thing on something else– just one person’s opinion also. “Great Expectations” (as you noted), “David Copperfield,” “Oliver Twist,” “A Christmas Carol,” “The Old Curiosity Shop,” etc. “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” is great, of course, and much more scathing (in an anti-war way) than the Hollywood film. Perhaps Gerald Durrell DID exaggerate the characteristics of his family to try to make things even funnier. That comment reminded me of the Bennet sisters in Pride and Prejudice. stands for Teller Services…. Seeing child poverty firsthand obviously is more visceral than thinking about it from a distance. I read therm in bunches. Withdrawal symptoms! Think of these characters: Thanks, jhNY! Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, and Romeo and Juliet will always forever remain young throughout eternity, and the bildungsroman offers the end perspective on a teenager’s choices in life, sometimes not in their control: Pip in “Great Expectations”, “Tom Jones”, Jane Eyre, and of course Holden in “The Catcher in the Rye.”, Terrific comment, Eric! Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Protagonist, in ancient Greek drama, the first or leading actor. When you mention O. Henry’s book I thought of one of my favorite young protagonists, David Balfour. Readers can enjoy the innocence of many kid characters, hope those characters turn out okay when older, cringe if they get jaded or go bad, and be reminded of their own childhood and/or their own kids and grandkids. He had many expeditions to collect animals all over the world, but he would not “over-collect” and he fed and treated these animals well. Quite a pile of writers have been on the wrong side of prison walls, if you want to count dissidents. Dave, I wasn’t given an option to “Reply” to your last response to me about Gerry Durrell so this will appear a little out of order I admit that at times I found his collecting a bit off-putting, but in his defense, he went on to become a well-known conservationist and was one of, if not the first, to be concerned about zoos. Jacob Von Gunten is that age, narrator of the Robert Walser novel of the same name. An astronaut-cum-gardener-cum-prophet, the Little Prince is perhaps the wisest character in the history of literature. Order. “Significant” is a one-word review I can live with. I Googled it and found it, but perhaps I should leave it to you, Donny, to reveal it here? It’s like I always say re the subject of what one ought to write about: familiarity breeds content. “Kids in Dickens” could be a post of its own. He excellently depicted young characters, including the one you aptly named, Jim Hawkins in “Treasure Island,” and others. I wonder if “The Waste Land” was a prescient poem about the devastation bankers would wreak on the economy in 2007-8? I have spent thousands of hours of my life in the company of imaginary people. You are so right we are in dire stress…I will let you know on Jhumpa`s book….so real…. bebe, it’s nice to know there are many places where people don’t care much about rich celebrities. Gallery. Thanks for the follow-up comment, Kat Lib! Tagged authors, books, fiction, literature, novels, short stories, young people, My favourite young person in a book would be Lyra from Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy. I don’t think his cheese was squarely on top of his cracker! Now, at long last she sat beside him in the darkened theater, and as so often happens in such pictures, a scene involving the savagery of the Colosseum was getting underway. “The Tin Drum”! Just finished Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Whilst a child’s perspective is limited, their voice needn’t be. One of many examples would be the overwrought death scene of Eva in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” — a novel which, overall, I love. Haven’t seen the movie, but I, ever the outlier, found the book, such few pages as I read, a bit ostentatiously outlandish in set-up and character development, and them musings were a bit on the low end of thought-provoking, promising much but delivering only themselves. I thought about including “The Catcher in the Rye” in my post, but had to pick and choose books to avoid the piece being too lengthy. (And that book IS funny.) “Familiarity breeds content” — brilliant! Seen from Huck’s point of view he is almost unbearable. Didn’t realize Dickens had some remorse about his depiction of Fagin — or, if not remorseful, at least felt a PR-ish need to dampen accusations of anti-Semitism. After all, too many likeable teens have been lost to that tome too often– some never recover. (The age, not the magazine. . As you might know, Barbara Kingsolver literally and metaphorically used the idea of a lacuna quite effectively in her novel. Seventeen qualifies! He may appear to be a naïve and helpless child aimlessly wandering around space, but his quest is concerned with the most fundamental question of all – what is life for? And, yes, there could have been a whole post on kids in Dickens novels. Such a great movie critic, and he led a very interesting life. As a HS student in the 70s there were four or five books all of us had to read Catcher in the Rye being the most common. Well Dave..it was difficult book to read but I like to read all of Irving`s book and he is always for the underdogs about unconventional truth and he is full of compassion . You’re absolutely right, jhNY — many dissident writers have indeed been jailed. “Fallen kids” and “disaffected teenagers” — definitely a significant portion of young people in literature. If Holden didn’t like Ayn Rand’s phony-baloney philosophy, that would earn him some points. Similarly to Holmes, she is very fond of firearms. And after Jules Verne, I am set to read Sherlock Holmes. Nice to hear from you, Lauren! It seems to me it’s considered hip to disparage Mr. Salinger’s best seller while perhaps throwing in a good word for Franny and Zooey . I’ll be brief as my phone isn’t the best for posting. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is not the best written of classic novels, but few books pack as much of an emotional punch. Thanks, Eric, and your comment is exactly right, too. Lauren, I didn’t know that Alcott wrote novels similar to Jo’s. , Perhaps the honorable senator was channeling the Buddy Holly-esque “geek” look…, Here’s a Simon quote I have always liked since first I ran across it, in the booklet accompanying a Japanese-issued cd box set of his solo recordings (I think): Being asked if he had hung out as an older teen in the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early 60’s, he said: “I hung out, but I could not pierce it, coming from the disadvantage of Queens.”. In his great short story “Barn-Burning,” when the young ‘Sarty’ Sartoris must witness his father’s pyromania up close and too personal I for one hope that he gets the hell out from under his father’s control as soon as he’s old enough to choose. … More insidiously, children’s books with female protagonists sometimes celebrate their heroine to a fault. (Wallace Stevens, if I remember right, was an insurance executive). Eric, with exams over, what book on your personal reading list might you read next? Other very good YA books are “If I Stay,” by Gayle Forman and “Eleanor & Park” by Rainbow Rowell. Faulkner’s own child characters are often as disturbed as they are when they grow up. Child Protagonists in Young Adult Dystopian Fiction Kristen Mellander November 14, 2013 TED 495: English Language Arts Capstone Primary Sources Thesis How do children fit into the protagonist role? He reminds me of the character you mentioned from ‘The Mosquito Coast’ although in that case (possible spoiler here), fate makes some decisions for him as I recall. I will not stoop low enough to say that T.S. I’m taking two lit classes at William and Mary this semester (British Literature and American Literature). Now that’s a memorable young character. Do you disagree with me? . Didn’t mention it in my column, but Charlotte Bronte certainly pulled that off masterfully in “Jane Eyre.”. I’m very glad you mentioned Robert Louis Stevenson. Those are the kids that are on my mind at the moment. We know it's obvious, but we love stating the obvious: children are everywhere in children's literature—in fact, they're usually the protagonists. banking and imprisonment don’t necessarily have to go hand-in-hand, but every once in a while, they do come up coincidentally. Two possible reasons for that: “War novels” by female authors are unfortunately not respected as much as those by men, and “History” (I think very effectively) views WWII mostly from a civilian perspective rather than via horrendously “exciting” battles. Guess I was paying it backwards. Children and teenagers are well-represented in horror for a few reasons: They represent powerlessness, as most kids lack the freedoms adults enjoy, making them especially vulnerable to supernatural terror, and not especially well-equipped to deal with it. Martin’s ‘Song of Ice and Fire’ series, that must grow up prematurely. From Alice to Ella: Female Protagonists in Children’s Literature INF 385T Lauren K. Burden December 12, 2012 Ascending Descending. Well, maybe “Crime and No Punishment.”, And thanks for that fascinating comment relating to T.S. Published in 1863, see also “The Water Babies” for Tom, another child chimney sweep (a redundancy, since children, nearly always boys, were employed because of their slight stature– they could most easily wriggle down chimneys). The literary works surveyed here were written by authors who, as children, witnessed apartheid, holocaust, imprisonment, escape, genocide, ethnic … I plan to read it. Hinton, T.C. But when he picked on Jim in “Huckleberry Finn,” Tom was fully on my dislike list. Top 10 Badasses of Classic Literature. I will never forget stifling my sobs, so as not to alarm my sleeping parents, at way too late in the wee hours of the morning while the workaday world lay a-dreaming, as Little Eva gave up the ghost at last. Mary, you named several great young protagonists! A lot of writers use initials! “Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc” deserves to be better known, and that historical novel certainly differs from most other Twain fiction in having a prominent (albeit doomed) female protagonist. Hopefully, it’s in there somewhere, and hopefully, I’ll read it one day. Makes me like him better, just thinking about it. Some writers had very un-writer-like jobs/professions. Anne is hands down our favorite redhead in children’s literature. “His childhood brush with poverty” was literally a brush full of blacking. Client by John Grisham is another page turner “The Client ” is about an eleven year old named Mark Sway and his little brother Ricky witnessing a suicide and the thriller continues on until the end of the book . Terrific comment, Donny, and I loved its John Knowles ending! As a kid, it always bothered me that the libraries didn’t consider the Oz books and Nancy Drew literary enough to justify shelf space. Initially, Sansa is much more shallow and superficial than her tomboyish sister Arya although she, happily, grows a bit by the fourth book of that series (extreme changes in circumstance will do that to a kid). Here are the most popular characters that parents and their kids love. Nineteenth-century literature was probably more on the pessimistic side than the optimistic side when it came to children, with of course a few triumphs along the way. heaven in a wild flower The following 200 pages are in this category, out of approximately 248 total. I loved reading those books, and I was especially taken by Hermione. I said as much when discussing the book in sophomore English back in the day causing the teacher to confirm he didn’t care for me by assigning John Knowles’s A Separate Peace as additional reading to be compared and contrasted with the former. You’re right that John Irving is a great, interesting, compassionate author. You can email me at dastor@earthlink.net to buy a discounted, inscribed copy of the book, which contains a preface by “Hints” columnist Heloise and back-cover blurbs by “The Far Side” cartoonist Gary Larson, among others. It was a total chore to get through all 500 pages. It sounds terrific, as was your description. If he also wanted to become a Jew, that would have covered “his bases.”, Ha, ha, Eric! For the latter, we contrasted two typical “young protagonist” novels: Little Women and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He was posting in Dr. Cara Barkers Blogs mainly… I kept my profile for various reasons. I think that I told you that Corfu was one of the destinations for the cruise I took in 2011. Makes sense to me, jhNY. If we want to include novels where the protagonist started out as a child but grew up in the pages of the book, Jane Eyre must be mentioned, as well as Idgie Threadgood from “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe.”. He has been on my list since you mentioned him many months ago. You described all that so well! And this is when Gerry announces that he’s planning to write a sequel, much to the family’s horror. The language and dialogue of the writing, often lauded for it’s honesty, sounds and sounded utterly artificial to my ears. Kid and tiger on a boat (eventually two attached boats); it wasn’t quite like “Calvin and Hobbes.” And all the philosophical and religious musings you refer to. What a line! bebe, I keep forgetting to include “To Kill a Mockingbird” when writing columns — mostly because I read that book such a long time ago. Lead character in “Kidnapped” by Robert Louis Stevenson. So many books (and short stories) indeed! I should have included that one. Glad you liked the post! Bruno Schultz is a fine writer who manages to make palpable some of the most evanescent and magical impressions and moods of home, childhood, town and the family business in stories that very often revolve around his father’s maniacal enthusiasms, mental exaltations, philosophical idiosyncrasies and eventual collapse and retreat. Kids in classic literature are usually annoying, and it’s much more difficult to think of a likable child than a brat, but Pearl takes the cake. The first book that comes to my mind is E.L. Doctorow’s “World’s Fair”. He was working there before becoming a (sappy) best-selling author.